And… Here we go…
Up until about a week ago, I had
every intention to march. I had every
intention to go to Washington, D.C.
to march. I really wanted to be a part
of this, primarily because I am a woman who believes in the equal rights of
women, I know what it is to work and live life in a male dominated field
(truth: most of the time it’s great, but sometimes it isn’t), I am raising two
spit-fire daughters whom I hope will be stronger than me as they grow up, and I
am also raising three sons who understand what it is to love and respect women
and to advocate for equality. Just a
note… Sometimes I think we forget how
important our sons are in this whole mess.
At any rate, I knew we had a family
schedule conflict yesterday, but I was still pretty sure I was going to march.
Originally, I had a ride to D.C.,
but that fell through when my friend and her
family came upon a truly unavoidable scheduling issue. She didn’t march, because she needed to be
somewhere else, making the choice that was the very best for her family and
life. That’s sort of what this is about,
right?
Plane tickets kept escalating,
because, of course, inauguration weekend is not a cheap time to fly to D.C.
I thought I would just drive, but I
really didn’t want to go alone. It’s not
that I couldn’t go alone. The trip is about 550 miles (each way) for
me, and I drive long distances alone, rather frequently, but I felt as if this
particular trip required community. On
short notice, I just couldn’t find anybody who could make it work.
Now, here’s where I legitimately
messed up…
Somehow, until I scanned my FB
newsfeed yesterday afternoon, I didn’t realize there were several opportunities
to march closer to home. Had I known
this, my day might have looked
differently.
It might have, but there was one
thing about the march that started to irritate me a little bit as it drew
near. It seems that in the days leading
up to the march, one pro-life women’s organization was excluded from official
partnership, simply because they are pro-life.
And here’s where I get in trouble with everyone… again.
About a year ago, I wrote a piece
describing how very pro-life I am. It
can be found here, and I would highly suggest you read it… actually, I beg you to read it… if my being pro-life
is offensive to you in any way. Although
we may not agree when you finish reading, I do think we can live with one
another and maybe still be friends.
Even though I am vehemently
feminist, I can’t stand on a pro-choice platform. I can march side by side with my many
friends, relatives, acquaintances, and colleagues who stand on a pro-choice
platform, but my choice… every time… is life.
I need that to be clear, but I am concerned that this point may have
been a little muddled yesterday.
I can’t tell you how happy it made
my heart to see pictures of my friends and their children marching for equality
all over the country. Many beautiful
words were penned, and I tried to ‘like’ all of them… until my FB app stopped
working right. But my heart sank a
little bit at the thought that I don’t count, simply because of the different
values I hold on one issue. May I express to you how very difficult it is
when you don’t fit neatly into any one camp?
It’s ironic, really, because these are the people for whom we’re
supposed to advocate, right? And yet…
Well, wouldn’t you know it, there are
a few words from Scripture that seem to speak to this:
I
Corinthians 1:10, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and
that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind
and thought” (NIV).
This is a hard teaching, maybe
especially right now. I don’t think Paul
is actually suggesting that we become like the aliens in “Buzz Lightyear of
Star Command” and submit to the ‘unimind.’
We’re going to have differing views on a plethora of issues, and I want
to be exceptionally clear that I think it is completely appropriate for all of
us to protest peacefully and certainly to step in passionately to defend the
marginalized! But could we maybe, just
maybe, begin by agreeing to offer love and hope at all costs? Don’t we all want that? I’m going to choose to
believe that we do.
L.
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